User blog:IH8BBS/Nudar = WORST VILLAIN EVER
I genuinely believe that Nudar and the Scammers are the worst villains ever written for a film. They fail on every level of writing a great villain, not to mention every level of making a great character. BACKSTORY Backstory can add a level of depth to a character, particularly a villain. It can add to their motives, and create intruige about the character. Nudar and the Scammers however, have no backstory whatsoever. True, it's not always essential to give a character backstory, but the fact they didn't try at all to even explain where the Scammers came from suggests to me they didn't even try, or worse still, didn't care. How hard would it have been to have one of them say something like "We were very poor growing up, that's why we want money!" MOTIVE While backstory is not always essential, motive is the most important part of any character, not just a villain. However, with the Scammers, they didn't even try. Why are they evil? What do they want all this money for? Why are they determined to steal everything valuable in history? None of these questions. The only reason is: they are the bad guys. There isn't even a single line to explain their motive. Again, the fact they didn't try suggests they didn't even care. True, there are a couple of scenes where they celebrate their scams and stealing, but it is never developed. Are they just stealing things and scamming people for the fun of it? That leads me to my next point ... CONSISTENT GOAL This one is sort of linked with motive, but another big problem with the Scammers is they have no consistent goal. It literally just seems to change based on whatever the writers wanted them to do, regardless if it is consistent with what happened earlier or if it makes sense. At first, they take over Planet Express and claim they want to force the crew to help them with the scams ("Come on people! We've got loads of quote-unquote "merchandise" to deliver!" is what he says to them.) However, later on they force the crew to leave, for no reason other than they are the bad guys. Why? I thought they wanted them to aid their scams! You might claim they would just get in the way as they are too moral, but the problem is that if the Scammers force everyone to leave, there is nothing stopping them from going to the Police! Another example is when they wipe Bender's mind. Having stolen everything they want from history, Nudar suddently decides he does care about if time is damaged. I'm not joking, there is no explanation at all, he just does. "I suddenly do care if the universe gets destroyed" is the unedited quote. What made him feel that way? If he is concerned about the damage he's done, why dosen't he attempt to undo it? Because the plot requires him too. Not only that, but when they wipe his mind, there is no explanation as to why they can't just delete the code and keep the incredibly helpful robot. It happens because the plot requires it to. Another example is when they take over the world and force everyone to leave. Why do they force everyone to leave? I thought their whole goal is to make money by scamming people. If they force everyone to leave, who will they have to scam? Ok, they'll still be able to do online scams, but how much more money would they make if they didn't make everyone leave? They wouldn't even need to scam people, they could just raise taxes. Not only that, but if they kept everyone on Earth as slaves, they could prevent any revolt by taking over the armies. By forcing everyone to leave, this allows them to regroup and mount an attack, which is exactly what they do. There isn't any reason given as to why the Scammers forced everyone to leave, other than they are the bad guys, the real reason is (say it with me now) the plot required them to. CREATIVITY I've heard it said that one of the best ways to great villain is to make them unique. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga0rs2G8BGI) The Scammers, however, are not creative in any way, other than setting a new nadir in lazy writing. Pretty much all they do is various villainous cliches; scamming people, stealing things, and the ulitmate villain cliche, taking over the world. Not that these things are inherently bad, but there needs to be more to the villain than that, and I don't need to repeat my point about their complete lack of motive. You can't even claim they are great scammers, because the whole joke of their scams is that they are obvious and only a gullible moron would fall for them. This is literally what the whole main plot relies on. Nor can you claim they are master thieves, as they use Bender to steal everything. CHARACTER TRAITS Another way to make a villain interesting is to give them other character traits. This is another area the Scammers fail spectularly at. Other than doing all the bad things the plot needs them to because ... they're the bad guys, there are only two things I could find about them. 1) They are nudists, which is just an excuse to throw in penis jokes and gay jokes. It dosen't add to the characters or the story at all. There's literally nothing else to say about that. 2) They have "sprunjers", organs that help them sense information. This is just a tool for them to find things the plot needs them to. There is no development or other reason the film gives for these things to exist. Aside from that, it dosen't even make sense. I mean think about it. There is information EVERYWHERE, so what use would this organ be? DYNAMIC WITH THE HEROES This is another way to add to the villain. Take Belloq from "Raiders of the Lost Ark". In that film, his rivalry with Indiana adds a lot to the character; it gives him backstory, it leads to some great confrontations, the way he constantly is one step ahead of Indiana, such as when he takes the Ark right from under him, makes him a genuine threat. However, in this film there are no interesting dynamics between the heroes and the villains. The Scammers take over Planet Express, and for most of the film, the crew just sit around obliviously, doing nothing to stop them. Why? They know the Scammers are evil, they know they are stealing things and conning people, yet they do nothing, because the film needs them to get on with the sub-plots and so they can force the action they want. There is literally only one scene where Leela tries to kick Nudar. Why can't they go to the Police? Remember, Leela was still able to go out with Lars, and the Proffesor called in the Harlem Globetrotters to discuss the time code, so there was nothing stopping them calling the Police. And before anyone says "but the Scammers had the deed to the company", don't forget that deed is just a fake, so the Proffesor MUST HAVE A REAL ONE! And he has all those witnesses who saw him being conned! Why can't they show the Police the real deed to the company? Oh wait, because ... well, you get the idea. The whole plot with the Scammers only happens because everyone on Earth is so dumb they allow it to happen. Then, when the plot requires them to fight back, they fight back and win. If they can form an army and defeat the Scammers, WHY DIDN'T THEY DO THAT BEFORE THE SCAMMERS TOOK OVER? HOW INTIMIDATING ARE THEY? Making an villain intimidating is a great way to make the villain seem a true threat. But the Scammers are just treated as a joke, which are somehow able to take over the whole planet. That isn't funny, it's just insulting to the viewer's intelligence. The best example of this is when they wipe Bender's mind, then start dancing around going "Neh neh neh! Neh neh neh!" How are we supposed to take them seriously? It's staggering to think anyone looked at these characters and thought they were good enough. What makes it all the more staggering is when you compare them to the other villains from Futurama. Take Mom, for example. She has a motive for being evil: she dosen't just want money because she is evil, she also wants the power that comes with it. She has a backstory, regarding her past fling with Farnsworth, which gives her character depth. She also has another layer to her character, with her sweet public persona she puts on in her adverts and public appearances. Another example is the Robot Santa. He has a backstory which gives him a motive, in that he was built to judge whether people had been naughty or nice, but due to a programming error, his standards are so high he judges everyone to be naughty. He is treated as a genuine threat, with all his deadly weapons and the rampages with see him do. He is also an extremely original concept for a villain. Compare the Scammers to any villain from any film, and you'll see how crap they truly are. Not only are the scammers the worst villains i've ever seen in a film, they are the WORST CHARACTERS I'VE EVER SEEN IN ANYTHING EVER. Think I'm joking about that? I've seen extras in the Star Wars films that were better written than the Scammers! That's not a joke, I mean it! I was watching "The Empire Strikes Back" the other day, and their was this Imperial Officer that walks up to Darth Vader after Han gets frozen and he says "Skywalker has just landed, Lord!". HE'S a better character than the Scammers are, because he has a motive and a consistent goal. True, his motive is just because he's an Imperial Officer and his goal is to inform Darth Vader that Skywalker has landed, but compared to the Scammers, he's a Shakespearean tragedy villain! I've seen better characers in ADVERTS than the Scammers! Again, I'm not joking about that! Remember that Meerkat from the "Compare the Market" adverts? Even HE'S a better character than the Scammers, because he has a backstory (He created a website for comparing Meerkats), a motive (People kept getting his webiste, CompareTheMeerkat.com with CompareTheMarket.com, and asking him for car insurace) and a consistent goal (For people to stop asking him about car insurance). IH8BBS (talk) 20:57, March 28, 2018 (UTC) Category:Blog posts